E/CN.4/2003/68/Add.2 page 30 possession of drugs. He was said to have been transferred to Zarafshan colony on 20 December 1998. In mid-January 2002, he was reportedly transferred to Karshi colony 64/33. Muhammad Atakhanov, his 30-year-old son, is said to have moved to Tashkent and later, in February 1999 to Kazakhstan after several arrests in the community. On 6 September 1999, an amnesty was reportedly declared by the President of the Republic, so Muhammad Atakhanov wrote a letter asking for forgiveness for having left the country, which he handed over at the border. He was reportedly handed over to the Uzbek border guards and detained in Tashkent. On 6 October, four police officers from Namangan are said to have come and stated that they would bring him home. According to the information received, they however brought him to the Namangan SIZO. At his trial, he was reportedly sentenced to 15 years in prison for leaving Uzbekistan and using a false passport to enter Uzbekistan. He is now said to be detained in Chirchik city colony. Abass Atakhanov, his 23-year-old brother, was reportedly arrested on 6 August 2000 upon return from his military service. He was reportedly accused of crossing the border illegally and was questioned about his brother’s whereabouts. The same day, four police officers are said to have come to his house, to have asked where the basement was and to have re-emerged several minutes later, claiming that they had found 48 bullets. He was reportedly charged under article 248 and later amnestied. He is said to have been detained again in the Namangan City MVD office, where he is said to have been ill-treated. When his mother tried to see him in October 2000, she was reportedly told that she could not and that she was free to complain to the United Nations. He was reportedly sentenced again to four years’ imprisonment in November 2000, on the basis of a violation of article 159 and detained in Almalik colony. In spring 2001, he was said to have been transferred to Karshi colony. Abdulkhamid Kayumov, the nephew of Akhmatkhon Atakhanov, was reportedly arrested in Namangan in the summer of the year 2000. He was reportedly charged with propagating Hizb-ut-Tahrir literature. As he did not plead guilty, police officers are said to have beaten him on the head with sticks and clubs. As a result, he was reportedly forced to give false testimony against two other persons accused of activities within Hizb-ut-Tahrir. After 17 days in the Namangan SIZO, he was reportedly set free. He was reportedly rearrested in the summer of 2002 in Namangan town, and accused of having received a grenade from someone. He reportedly never signed a confession and was again said to have been beaten on the head. As a result, he is said to be suffering from hearing problems. In June 2002, his trial was said to have commenced. On the day of the verdict in August, his wife is said to have been told another date for the commencement, and reportedly only arrived in time for the verdict. The prosecutor is said to have told his family that he would only be charged with article 159 (i) - which would have meant a lighter sentence - but then asked for article 159 (iv) at the trial. He had reportedly asked the family to pay him a bribe, however, since they could not pay it, the procurator is said to have relied on subsection (iv). His State-appointed lawyer is said to have been paid no attention in the proceedings. Abdulkhamid Kayumov was reportedly sentenced to 16 years. He was reportedly held in Jaslyk colony at the time of writing. Akhmat Turakhanov, a member of the political opposition from Namangan city, who had advocated the laying of gas pipes around the city, an initiative which was apparently not popular with the local authorities, was reportedly arrested and taken to Namangan MVD office on 29 December 1998. It is also reported that he was a member of an independent human rights organization and petitioned the authorities to open mosques. He was reportedly later sentenced to five years in prison for “Wahhabism” pursuant to article 159 in March 1999, on allegedly fabricated charges. During the trial, 21 out of the 23 witnesses reportedly told the judge that they